


Words We Cannot Hear

by MiriamKenneath



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Chance Meetings, Developing Friendships, Gen, Secrets
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-18
Updated: 2018-03-18
Packaged: 2019-04-04 04:36:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 609
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14012334
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MiriamKenneath/pseuds/MiriamKenneath
Summary: “Well, blast me back into an embryo cultivation tube,” Rex marvels. “And here I thought I’d seen it all.”





	Words We Cannot Hear

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ambiguously](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ambiguously/gifts).



Flickering lights from roaring bonfires dance with the deepening shadows of the forest as night falls, and the hoots and chatter and celebratory music of the victorious Rebel Alliance fill the air with raucous noise.

His father’s face is handsome, unexpectedly boyish beneath its head of messy hair. Luke sees himself in the shape of the cheekbones, the jawline. And he sees Leia in that disarming, mischievous smile. But no matter how he tries – and though his father’s lips move in the patterns of speech – Luke cannot hear his words.

The past, so near, right here in front of him…yet as inaccessible as ever. Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru had refused to tell him stories about the past. Now, it seems, he lacks the ears to hear them.

The realisation is dismaying; at a time when he has so much he ought to be happy about, it makes him want to cry.

But his father’s smile only grows wider. He is looking straight through Luke—

No, he’s looking past him—

 _Turn around_.

Luke can read those words from his father’s lips, at least, so he obeys.

“You Skywalker?”

 

He’d heard the rumours, of course. Everyone had. The last of the deposed Jedi Order, they said. An X-wing pilot too, strong in the Force, they said. Destroyed the first Death Star with a single shot, they said. Oh, and if all that weren’t impressive enough, they said, he was son of the storied legend of the Clone Wars, Anakin Skywalker.

Rex had just scoffed. It was a pretty little lie – harmless, he supposed. If it inspired people, who was Rex to complain? But it was a lie all the same. General Skywalker had never had a son. Why is he even bothering to confront this imposter? The very notion – it is utter ridiculousness! Rex would have _known_!

Or not.

Because as soon as the kid turns around, he knows. It’s as plain as the nose on the kid’s face, the shape of the eyes. He has Senator Amidala’s bright, earnest gaze.

“Well, blast me back into an embryo cultivation tube,” Rex marvels. “And here I thought I’d seen it all.”

“Who are you?”

 

They sit together, side-by-side, in front of a crackling bonfire.

Rex remembers the old war like it was yesterday, and he knows all the stories.

Save one.

“It was during the liberation of Mandalore. Your father and General Kenobi were recalled to Coruscant, tasked to lead the mission to rescue the Chancellor from Count Dooku. Dooku was the head of the Separatists, and your father took down Dooku in single combat! He was a true hero, Luke, the last and the best of the age of heroes. He died a hero too, you know – on Mustafar, attempting to apprehend the remaining Separatist leaders.”

Luke gazes into the orange flames, trying to imagine the inferno of the planet that burned his father alive. The unalloyed admiration – and love – that Rex continues to bear for his father impresses him. It brings him joy.

But it also saddens him.

Because Rex doesn’t know the truth of Darth Vader…and Luke has decided not to enlighten him.

 _Many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view_.

Old Ben was right after all.

Luke has made a great new friend in Rex tonight, a friend to help fill that lingering, aching hollowness which has haunted him his entire life.

But some burdens must be borne alone. A Jedi sacrifices so that others need not. Luke may not be able to hear his father’s words, but he knows that is what his father would say.

 

* * *

_**-fin-** _


End file.
